Browse NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day archive by date and media: Archive Discoveries
Browse the NASA APOD archive without needing the exact date first. Filter by media type and keep moving deeper into older images and videos.
A Daylight Eclipse of Venus
Something was about to happen. Just two days ago, two of the three celestial objects easily visible during the day appeared to collide. But actually, Earth's Moon passed well in…
Eris: More Massive than Pluto
Eris , a dwarf planet currently orbiting the Sun at about twice Pluto's distance, has been measured to have about 27 percent more mass than Pluto. The mass was calculated by…
Monitoring M2-9
Exploring the myriad shapes found in the cosmic zoo of planetary nebulae , some astronomers have focused on the intriguing example of M2-9. About 2,100 light-years away and over…
Analemma over Ukraine
If you took a picture of the Sun at the same time each day, would it remain in the same position? The answer is no, and the shape traced out by the Sun over the course of a year…
Lunar Orbiter Views Crater Copernicus
To prepare for the Apollo landings , five Lunar Orbiter spacecraft were launched during 1966 and 1967 to gather detailed images of our fair planet's large, natural satellite .…
Messier 96
Dust lanes seem to swirl around the core of Messier 96 in this colorful, detailed portrait of the beautiful island universe . Of course M96 is a spiral galaxy , and counting the…
vdB 152: Reflection Nebula in Cepheus
Described as a “dusty curtain” or “ghostly apparition”, mysterious reflection nebula vdB 152 really is very faint . It lies about 1400 light-years away, along the northern Milky…
Warped Sky: Star Trails Panorama
What's happened to the sky? A time warp, of sorts, and a digital space warp too. The time warp occurs because the above image captured in a single frame a four hour exposure of…
Shuttle Plume
What kind of cloud is that? Not a naturally occurring one. Pictured above is the drifting smoke plume left over from last Friday's launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis . The…
The Merope Reflection Nebula
Reflection nebulas reflect light from a nearby star. Many small carbon grains in the nebula reflect the light. The blue color typical of reflection nebula is caused by blue light…
Looking Back at an Eclipsed Earth
Here is what the Earth looks like during a solar eclipse . The shadow of the Moon can be seen darkening part of Earth . This shadow moved across the Earth at nearly 2000…
Globular Star Cluster M3
This immense ball of half a million stars older than the Sun lies over 30,000 light-years away. Cataloged as M3 (and NGC 5272 ), it is one of about 150 globular star clusters that…
Markarian's Eyes
Across the heart of the Virgo Galaxy Cluster lies a string of galaxies known as Markarian's Chain . Prominent in Markarian's Chain are these two interacting galaxies, NGC 4438…
Great Mountain Moonrise
On May 31st, a gorgeous Full Moon rose over Uludag Mountain in Bursa Province, Turkey. This alluring telephoto view of the twilight scene is a composite of images taken roughly…
Dust Sculptures in the Rosette Nebula
What creates the cosmic dust sculptures in the Rosette Nebula? Noted for the common beauty of its overall shape , parts of the Rosette Nebula , also known as NGC 2244, show beauty…
Jet Approaching a Crescent Moon
No natural clouds appear in this picture. On the left, an airplane cruises through the atmosphere leaving a contrail in its wake. The contrail would normally appear white, but the…
IC 4603: Reflection Nebula in Ophiuchius
Why does this starfield photograph resemble an impressionistic painting ? The effect is created not by digital trickery but by large amounts of interstellar dust . Dust, minute…
Shuttle Plume Shadow Points to Moon
Why would the shadow of a space shuttle launch plume point toward the Moon? In early 2001 during a launch of Atlantis , the Sun , Earth , Moon , and rocket were all properly…
3D Full Moon
Get out your red/blue glasses and check out this satisfying stereo anaglyph of the Full Moon. A corresponding stereo image pair, intended for cross-eyed viewing , is also…
Messier 65
M65 is a big, beautiful spiral galaxy, the sixty-fifth object in the famous astronomical catalog compiled by 18th century cosmic tourist Charles Messier . It's also a member of a…
Dwarf Galaxies in the Coma Cluster
In visible light images, over a thousand galaxies are seen to lie within a volume about 20 million light-years across in the rich Coma Galaxy Cluster . But infrared images of the…
Liquid Sea on Saturn's Titan
What is this vast dark region on Titan? Quite possible a sea of liquid hydrocarbons . The region was imaged earlier this month when the robotic Cassini spacecraft swooped past…
Bright Spiral Galaxy M81 from Hubble
The Hubble Space Telescope has resolved individual stars in a spectacular new image of nearby spiral galaxy M81. The feat is similar to Edwin Hubble 's historic images with the…
A Hole in Mars
Black spots have been discovered on Mars that are so dark that nothing inside can be seen. Quite possibly, the spots are entrances to deep underground caves capable of protecting…
Viewing discoveries from 20 June 2007 through 28 May 2007.